We Miss Artie Spirals toward the Kentucky Derby

As three colts thundered home to the finish line in the Grade 3, $550,000 Spiral Stakes, one couldn’t wait for it to get there, while the other two wanted one last lunge at the leader. Taking full advantage of every inch of the 1 1/8 miles of Turfway Park’s signature race, it was We Miss Artie sticking his nose in front on the wire. Harry’s Holiday, who pressured a solid pace the whole way, and kept Coastline barely at bay through the entire stretch run, was the brave, but unlucky runner-up.

The winner, ridden by Hall of Fame rider, John Velazquez found good position early on, in the middle of the pack, and on the outside, as a speed duel was contested on the front end through fractions of :22.78 and :47.21. We Miss Artie made his move on the far turn, and looked like a winner when the field came spinning out of the turn. Still ahead of him, though, was a pair of long shots, in Harry's Holiday and Coastline, and neither had any designs of giving up easily. In fact, for a while in deep stretch, it looked like the order might not change the final eighth of a mile, but We Miss Artie surged again, and got there in time to nip Harry's Holiday on the line by a nose, with Coastline just another head farther back in third. Winning trainer, Todd Pletcher, was more excited than usual by the thrilling finish.

“It really was (a great closing run),” said Pletcher. “Very exciting. I wasn’t sure he got there but very excited to see that he did.”

Recently named the early favorite for the Queen’s Plate, We Miss Artie was sent off as the 7-2 second choice in the 12-horse Spiral field. Before the Ontario-bred heads north, though, he almost certainly has a date in Louisville. We Miss Artie earned the lion’s share of the 85 Kentucky Derby 2014 points offered in today’s prep. The 50 points is more than enough to qualify him for the field, and consider his owner, there is no doubt that he will be in the starting gate on the first Saturday in May.

"I'm only 78 years old so I only have about 20 or 25 more Kentucky Derbys ahead of me and I'm trying to take every opportunity to get one there," Ken Ramsey said the other day, before winning the Spiral.

We Miss Artie is one of three contenders that the Eclipse Award winning owns, with Bobby’s Kitten and Vicar’s In Trouble, being the other two.

A Ramsey homebred, We Miss Artie raised his record to three wins and two seconds in eight starts. The son of Artie Schiller was second on the turf in Gulfstream Park's Kitten's Joy Stakes, before finishing eighth in the Fountain of Youth Stakes, in his first two starts of 2014. He was already a grade 1 winner coming in, thanks to his score in Keeneland's Breeders’ Futurity last fall. Today’s win, with a final time of 1:52.26, marked only his second start on a synthetic surface.

TV. It is something. We spent over an hour there looking at all of the graves and thinking of all the great horses that were there. I would love to have seen Bradley's Cemetary, which is at Darby Dan. He had a beautiful bronze statue, life size I believe of Black Toney there with his great progeny buried near by.

LAZ. I'm going to do something more on Busanda, and am looking at Dawn Play and also Myrtlewood. Will look at Two Lea ( saw her grave at Calumet) and Sickles Image. Also thinking of Miss Cavandish whom I remember well.

Buck some intriguing fillies for me are Two Lea, Busanda and Sickle’s Image, al three not afraid to mix it up with the boys. Here’s an intriguing fact about Two Lea. Sine her 10F win in the Hollywood Gold Cup in 1952, the only filly or mare to defeat open G1 males at 10F on dirt is Princessnesian in the 1968 Hollywood Gold Cup. Cascapedia came close when losing the Gold Cup to Crystal Waters by a neck in 1977 and Zenyatta when losing the 2010 BCC to Blame. She beat males in the 2009 BCC, but technically that was on synthetics and not dirt, which would put an asterisk beside it. I can’t think of any others fillies or mares to pull off that feat since 1952. I know that Shuvee won those two toe-mile Gold Cups, but I’m strictly talking about 10F G1 on dirt. If you come up with one since 1952 please share it with us.

Not a mistake. I wasn't aware that he was actually bred in Maryland and brought back to Canada. That’s actually pretty interesting. Sunny’s owner, Pud Foster was a pretty good guy and his trainer was Dave Cross who I think originally trained in California. I don’t know if he’s still training. As for Ramsay, he might have a better shot at the Derby with Vicar’s in Trouble.

I do not think Ramsey really cares if the horse finishes first ,second ,tenth or last. He is a breeder and a Kentucky boy who loves Churchill Downs. Just to see his silks on the track when they play My Old Kentucky home. That ialready places him in the winners circle. I have been a big critic of his,i know him and have had negotiations with him in the past. But i say it sincerely,if ever an owner deserves the opportunity to see his horse in the Derby ,it is Ken Ramsey. Love him or hate him,he has done a lot for this game. This is a just reward.

I like Artie, but IMO he’s definitely not a dirt horse. He might make the Derby based on Ramsay’s desire to have an entrant in the race and also I believe that he is the only G1 winner of the contenders at this point, but his chances are slim and none which is too bad because if the race was on turf or even synthetics, he would be one of the leading contenders. Sunny’s Halo went into the Derby with 6 career stakes victories under his belt including the Arkansas Derby, and all of them on dirt. In two tries Artie has been dismal on dirt.